The ESA50 form asks about, "Hospital, clinic or special treatment like dialysis or rehabilitation treatment" but makes no mention of psychiatric treatment or talking therapies (eg psychotherapy, CBT, CAT, etc). This omission seems to deliberately imply that treatments for mental health problems are not considered important by the DWP. I view this as an example of the DWP's discrimination against those with mental health problems.
Where, in the form, can I write about talking therapies? I realise I could put this information in the "Other information" box towards the end of the form but that would minimise its importance. Can I refer to talking therapies in answer to, "What hospital, clinic or special treatments are you getting?" even though the DWP has given the impression that treatments for mental health problems are irrelevant?
Yes, I would refer to talking therapies to "What hospital, clinic or special treatments are you getting?" if there is space, if there is no space then make a note on the "What hospital, clinic or special treatments are you getting?" page and reference 'other information' and page number.
Remember For ESA you can only score points for questions 1-10 where the underlying cause of your limitations is a physical condition and for questions 11-17 it has to be a mental health or cognitive problem.
Gary
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.
